Combined Force Kills 4 Insurgents

KABUL, Afghanistan, March 19, 2012 — An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed four insur­gents March 17 dur­ing a search for an insur­gent leader of the Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan in the Shirin Tagab dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Faryab province, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

The leader, offi­cials said, plans and con­ducts attacks against coali­tion troops through­out north­ern Afghanistan and is sus­pect­ed of plot­ting an attack against a senior Afghan official. 

Afghan troops called for the occu­pants of the build­ing where the insur­gents were sus­pect­ed to be hid­ing to come out. Women and chil­dren came out of the build­ing, fol­lowed by a man who fired on the secu­ri­ty force from behind the women and chil­dren. Two oth­er insur­gents fired at the secu­ri­ty force, one from inside the build­ing and the oth­er from a near­by tent. The secu­ri­ty force returned fire, killing all three, and killed one addi­tion­al insur­gent, wound­ed anoth­er and detained sev­er­al suspects. 

An Afghan woman was wound­ed dur­ing the exchange. A coali­tion heli­copter flew her and her hus­band to a med­ical facil­i­ty, where she was list­ed in sta­ble condition. 

In oth­er March 17 Afghanistan operations: 

— A com­bined force detained a sus­pect while search­ing in the Kan­da­har dis­trict of Kan­da­har province for a Tal­iban leader who planned and con­duct­ed attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces in the province’s Dand dis­trict. He also pro­vid­ed insur­gents with weapons and ammunition. 

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Haqqani net­work leader in the Pul‑e Alam dis­trict of Log­ar province. The leader tar­get­ed Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces with attacks and con­duct­ed an ambush against an Afghan fuel con­voy Jan. 25 that wound­ed an Afghan soldier. 

— In the Charparhar dis­trict of Nan­garhar province, a com­bined force detained mul­ti­ple sus­pects, destroyed a weapons and ammu­ni­tion cache, and seized ille­gal drugs while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader. The leader directs insur­gent oper­a­tions around Jalal­abad City, and is sus­pect­ed in a Feb. 27 bomb­ing attack at Jalal­abad air­field. He also is sus­pect­ed in this week’s attack that destroyed the all-girl Shoulana School in Charparhar district. 

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor, detained two oth­er sus­pects and seized weapons, ammu­ni­tion and bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als in the Ahmad­abad dis­trict of Pak­tia province. The Tal­iban leader pro­vid­ed weapons, ammu­ni­tion, and bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als to insurgents. 

In oth­er news, a com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader March 16 in the Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict of Hel­mand province. The leader direct­ed an insur­gent cell that con­duct­ed road­side bomb­ings and oth­er attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. 

Source:
From an Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand News Release